For this week's main podcast review, Josh Parham, Joselyn Safadi, Dan Bayer, and Giovanni Lago join me to review and discuss the latest film from Benny Safdie (his first solo directorial credit after working with his brother, Josh, throughout his career), "The Smashing Machine," starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, and Oleksandr Usyk. Based on the 2002 documentary "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr," the film had its world premiere at the 2025 Venice Film Festival, where it received the best reviews of Johnson's career for his committed performance and won the Silver Lion for Best Director for Safdie. Please tune in as we discuss the performances, direction, writing, authenticity to MMA, its awards season chances, and more in our SPOILER-FILLED review. Thank you for listening, and enjoy!

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Episode 245: Chris Hedges